


a thousand little mistakes leading me towards you

by orphan_account



Series: She-Ra Fanfics [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Platonic Relationships, will add characters & relationships as written
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25913722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “The sword is meant for you, Catra, so you can defend Etheria,”or; Catra finds the sword instead of Adora, and changes well... pretty much everything.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra Fanfics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841515
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	a thousand little mistakes leading me towards you

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i annoyed everyone in my discord server until they were throughly sick of it. but there is a finished product, so go productivity! motivation is a fickle thing though, and i can't promise regular updates.
> 
> anyway here it is in all it's glory; a magicatra au, inspired by various edits and art.
> 
> criticism is always appreciated, even just pointing out typos. but really, any comment is treasured.

Catra had experienced plenty of falls in her lifetime. Tumbling from a pipe or railing, slipping when she was practicing her jumps - it all led to the saying ‘cats always land on their feet’ being undeniably true when it came for Catra. She could spring up from a nasty tumble mostly unharmed and hissing. Yet nothing could prepare someone for the feeling of branches snagging on fur or the sharp jolt of landing that came from crashing a skiff. The disorientation alone could mess with your vision, adding a glow in the corner of her which surely could not exist. 

For some reason it stuck around though, and even when Catra blinked rapidly it stayed, only growing clearer. Into the shape of a sword, golden and enticing in the way even other weapons never did, making her inch closer. It was certainly shiny, wrapped in roots and with a blue stone at the hilt that would surely make a nice trinket, if nothing else.

The thing is nothing much can prepare you for crazy flashes of light, or strange women of unknown species. Mostly because that was insane, and a result of hitting her head or some other thing. The pain was definitely real though, sharp and pressing against her temple, insistent only in the way Adora’s worrying was. 

Speaking of Adora, the feeling of hands shaking her shoulders was both familiar and suddenly terrifying, causing her to fling herself away from her best friend in a mad scramble of limbs and yelling. 

“Catra! You’re alive, oh I was so worried you were just lying there and I thought you were dead,” Adora reached for her again, and Catra allowed one blissful moment of contact before playfully shoving her away. 

“Aww, you were worried about me!” Catra giggled, sharp teeth showing as she dodged Adora’s attempt to shove her back. Her tail lashed wildly, her ears still pinned back from the dizzying images that wouldn’t leave her thoughts, even as she argued with Adora about the skiff crashing. The sword pushed out her normal anxieties, the feeling of Adora’s hand on her shoulders. Just it, mysteriously disappearing and leaving her head spinning with images of a woman she had never seen before. 

It stayed with her as she tried to sleep, bright blue burning itself into her eyelids to the point that she had no choice but to get out of bed, steps light enough that Adora didn’t wake up. She was used to sneaking out of bed, and the patrolling robots came easily to her. It was a simple task to steal a skiff, even with uneasiness coiling in her belly at the reminder that Adora wasn’t here, that she was going into this alone.

Alone, with no idea of what she was doing or what was going on, Catra would like to think she was handling the situation admirably well. The skiff was easier to drive this time, and she landed it without trouble in what she thought was the general area of the sword. She stuck to the trees, leaping nimbly from branch to branch and using the height to search for the blue glow that would surely show up even through the branches. If there was anything to find that is, because this could all turn out to be a dumb mistake that would end up with a punishment that’d sting for days. 

The thought was almost enough to make her miss her target, but nothing could make her blind to that bright, entrancing light. Something made Catra hesitant, ears swiveling towards the sound of breaking twigs and low grumbling. Two people, heading towards what rightfully belonged to her. Finders keepers, losers weepers and all that. 

The purple one went down first, and she didn’t cry but the strangled shout was plenty satisfying, more so when she started fighting back. For a rebel she was good, but then came the sparkles and things made a bit more sense. A princess was a more dangerous foe, and the realisation made her scramble back in what probably turned out to be a little less subtle than she hoped. 

It made it easier for the other rebel to shoot though, the speed of the arrow telling her he had been waiting for a clear shot. Catra dodged it with an elegant leap that left her breathing hard and with a sudden clarity on how she was going to come out of this fight. The archer looked like he was about to leap in with just his fists and there was a pink glow around the princess’ hands that sent a spike of fear through her. 

So she dove for the sword, uncaring of the commotion it caused with the pair she’d been trying to beat. She reached it in time, one clawed hand wrapping around the hilt just as it overwhelmed her. 

An unfamiliar voice was never a good thing to open your eyes to, but paired with whatever was going on with the sword and the purple- gemstones? around her it was a nightmare. Maybe that was all it was, but the pain in her head assured her that it was far too real in the worst way possible. 

“How do you know my name?” Catra hissed, tail puffed up and lashing wildly in an display she wished came less naturally. 

“My name is Light Hope, I have been waiting a long time for you,” Light Hope spoke in an echoing voice that only made her scramble further back, fur puffed up and teeth bared. “But I could not reach you until you forged your connection with the sword.” 

“What connection? I just touched it, I didn’t do anything,” it came out somewhere between defensive and angry, frozen in place with a hiss building in her throat. 

“The sword is meant for you, Catra, so you can defend Etheria,” as she spoke a hologram flickered into existence in front of her. It cleared up a few things which her terrified brain couldn’t properly process, forcing her to acknowledge that Light Hope was in fact a hologram. 

That didn’t stop her from approaching the sword though, curiosity overriding her instincts long enough that she could almost heap it from the air. “Will you answer its call? Will you fight for the honour of Grayskull?” 

“I’m not fighting for the honour of anyone if you don’t give me an explanation,” Catra hissed, snatching her hand back at the reminder she had no idea what was going on. 

She never got an answer before everything faded again, white light forming itself into two blurry shapes before she fully opened her eyes. There was no time to even register what the archer had said before the sparkly one got in her face. 

“Quiet, horde scum!” There was a surprising amount of vitriol in her voice, but then again Catra had never laboured under Adora’s belief that everything was black one white. Maybe her hatred was warranted, but there was enough detachment from it all that Catra couldn’t bring herself to care. “What are you doing here?” Her- the sword was pointed towards her, but with her hands tied in the way they were there was no hope of stealing it. Instead Catra just smiled and leant back against the tree stump, taking in the forest with a smug smile. 

“It isn’t that hard to just wander in, Sparkles,” she said idly, pushing all of her false bravado into her voice, “You should really fix that.” Her voice dipped into a condescending drawl, and from the incoherent sound the princess made it hit the mark. 

“What do you want with First Ones tech?” Sparkles seemed to recover quickly, jabbing that sword at her in a way that showed she’d clearly had no training with it. She supposed that the whole magic thing would be enough to win a fight, but it was really disgraceful how she was waving it about. The Horde preferred staffs, but a basic grounding in weaponry was sensible. 

“What do you think? We need new things to conquer you with,” Catra paused for dramatic effect, “But then again, I suppose it doesn’t take much to beat you,” she said it with mocking sadness, drawing out her words with a certain showmanship to them. She had always been of the opinion that if you were going to lie you might as well do it with style, and she intended to make good use of that now. 

Her reward came in the form of another groan, this time annoyed enough that she grabbed the archer and dragged him away by the impractical shirt. There was no point leaving your midriff open like that, no matter how nice it looked. “It’s our sword, okay? I don’t know what you’re actually doing with it, but that can’t be it.” 

It was him that approached her after a whispered conversation, with the princess hanging back to glare at her. “We don’t want to hurt you, okay? The rebellion is honourable, we don’t torture prisoners.” Catra groaned this time, loud and dramatic and yet not enough to stop the man. “So we’ll be taking you to Bright Moon for an interrogation,” he sounded proud of the plan, but Catra focused on the part that involved her going into enemy territory. 

Shadow Weaver was always looking for intelligence on Bright Moon, and if she could manage an escape with a battle strategy that would surely earn her a promotion. It would prove to Adora that she was still her friend, even if she wasn’t a Force Captain. 

That didn’t mean she had to be nice about it though, so Catra went limp and closed to her eyes as if the princess’ poking and shouting at her was relaxing. The archer - Bow, she’d heard the princess’ shout before - was busy securing her properly. He was good at knots, she could admit to herself, and his calmness in the face of Sparkle’s tantrum was enviable. Catra was resisting the urge to cover her ears or shout back, but the first option was impossible and the latter would end with that promise of non-violence retracted, so instead she put up with it. “Ohhh, honourable huh? You shouldn’t probably stop waving my sword around then, you might hurt someone,” she said, shaking her head in mock concern and disappointment. 

Eventually Sparkles dragged her up by her collar, pushing her forward so that she was forced to stand by herself. After that walking was a boring matter, interjected with the occasional sappy reassurance for Bow or question from Sparkles. Or Glimmer if she wanted to be technical, but really Catra thought her nickname was better. Glimmer implied a level of subtlety Sparkles just didn’t have. Besides, it wasn’t like she could be bothered to be respectful to a rebel, much less one that was holding her prisoner. Princesses were useless anyway, she’d never found any evidence of the Horde lying about that. 

They walked until finally her captor’s whispered arguments turned from whispers to loud grumbling. “This isn’t right! I’ve lived in these woods my whole life and I’ve never been here, we need to go back,” Bow insisted. 

“I know where I’m going,” Sparkles waves the navigator in front of them as if it meant anything, before groaning in frustration and teleporting away. Those seemed to be her favourite things to do, complain and teleport. It made her irritating to travel with, but considering she was basically being dragged by Bow it seemed a bit hypocritical of her. 

Everything stopped suddenly though, Sparkle’s eyes fixed on the ruins of what clearly had been a village. Catra found herself staring despite how desperately she wanted to curl up in a cupboard and never leave. It must have been a happy place once, bustling and lively and full of people. She wondered if it had been a great victory or a routine one, simple destruction as if people’s life’s didn’t matter. They didn’t of course, but it was so much harder to think that when there were crumbling walls in front of her. Indisputable proof of what the Horde had done, that it wasn’t just paperwork and announcements but bloodshed. 

“You did this!” Glimmer yelled, spinning around with power gathering around her fists and tears shining in her eyes. She was breathing hard, gasping shallow breathes into choked lungs. “You killed them, I bet this was your raiding party, you monster.” 

“We- I had no choice. Please I- I,” Catra stumbled backwards, tripping over roots in her rush to get away. She was left bruised and shaking, eyes wide and mask fallen and forgotten on the forest floor. “It wasn’t me, none of us were supposed to know, please believe me. I never…. I never hurt anyone, okay?” It was a half-lie and it wasn’t enough, simulation after simulation in preparation for exactly this. 

Glimmer stood over her, shoulders shaking and Catra remembered the stories of princess’ with frightening clarity. It was almost worse when Glimmer grabbed her by the shirt with what could only be called gentleness. Not kindness, but it didn’t hurt as much as it could have. Catra tried to tell herself that it meant her trick was working, but there was burning behind her eyes that left with the excuse feeling weak even to her. 

“I’m… sorry” Bow rested an equally gentle hand on her shoulder, kindness in his smile and the way he drew back the touch when she stiffened. “It’s been hard for everyone, we’ve all lost people. We don’t tend to think of you as people.”

You shouldn’t be the one apologising, she didn’t say, That’s the point, we’re not people, you’re not people. I’m sorry. Instead she kept her mouth shut, eyes trained on the path ahead and head stubbornly held up high. 

Silence was a stifling thing, Catra found on the walk. Glimmer- Sparkles was walking on ahead, grip right on the sword like she was debating using it. Bow seemed drawn between comforting her and engaging in his own private mourning. Catra had no interest in provoking them right now. The things she was keeping trapped behind her teeth would only end up breaking whatever fragile peace she’d landed herself in. 

Glimmer had wandered out of sight for a minute or so before the ground started shaking, giving her the perfect angle to cut through her bonds. This time she needed to, acrobatics only getting her so far when the ground wasn’t stable. 

“There’s something big coming!” Glimmer’s voice interrupted her attempts at dignity, and while normally she’d welcome a pretty woman shouting at her the current situation was hardly ideal. Everyone had shifted into offensive stances, Bow with an arrow notched and Glimmer teleporting to the perfect position with magic forming a pink glow around her hands. It was a good place for fighting, beautiful in a way that she would normally be drawn to appreciate. 

Catra had just leapt onto a low-hanging branch when the source of all that when a big bug-thing came into the clearing. It trampled the grass, gouging into the earth with one movement. There was no way she could fight if with no weapon, but she was determined to try anyway. She didn’t want for either of them- information, guides, all of those reasons she couldn’t think of right now. 

Catra landed on it’s back with one easy leap, claws digging into flesh with deadly recklessness that made little difference. She was tossed off with ease. Bow took the opening to shoot. Glimmer was forced to teleport them both away as the bug-thing stabbed down again. 

She tried again, scrambling to find purchase on whatever counted as flesh for that thing. No matter what she tried no blood was drawn though, and she could feel the impact from the last time she was thrown off already. Instead she leapt off herself, eyes fixed on the sword like it was her only hope. It might as well be. 

Bow and Glimmer had been fighting while she was distracted. They were tiring quickly. The broken arrows littered on the forest floors showed how well that was going as well. Catra had to retreat back to trees to drop near them. She only just managed to grab Glimmer’s cape as she teleported. She was breathing heavily, unharmed but exhausted. 

Catra took the chance to take the sword, surprised by how easy it was, as if Glimmer was letting her have it. As if she trusted her. But that was ridiculous, because there was no room for trust here. Because they were enemies. 

There was no time for that anyway, because the bug-thing was heading towards them again. Catra hefted the sword, struggling with the weight and awkward balance of it her hand, like it was made for someone else. She had a connection with it, right? The glowing lady had said so, and she wasn’t about to argue with a hologram. Not now, that is. 

Catra stumbled, trying her best to lift it into any one of the positions she’d learnt. With the bug-thing coming she didn’t bother for long though. She tried her best to stab at it. The heaviness left the attempt as more of a vague gesture, and the bug-thing rushed dangerously close before she rolled away. Hair wild and mask long-forgotten, Catra raised the sword as high above her head as it could go and tried to think of anything that could help. 

This sword had been waiting for her. That she knew, just like she knew that Glimmer was out of power and Bow had no more arrows. She knew it like she knew that thing could easily kill them all. 

So she stood her ground and stared at it. She didn’t move out of the way as it charged, just tried to think. There had to be something more, had to be some magic phrase or-

The bright glow stared again just as the bug-thing stabbed down with one leg, meeting the blade with a loud clang and a white flash accompanied by a mechanical voice.

“For the honour of Greyskull!” She repeated as a scream, raw and desperate and tearing at her throat, the now familiar light overtaking her. It was warm this time, leaving her feeling more powerful. She was more powerful.

Because it wasn’t Catra that stood there. The woman was too tall, her hair was too long and smooth, flowing down her back with light tufts curling around her ears. A tiara pushed it back from her face, a red gemstone in the centre that mimicked her mask. There were ostentatious shoulder plates that extended past her actual shoulders, and a skirt that was a little too long for her tastes. No shoes at least, and her legs were covered in tight-fitting pants that resembled her previous outfit. Bare arms, but with one bracer that reached up to her elbow of her sword arm. The sword itself fit in her hands like it was made for it, perfectly balanced and practically moving itself. Fighting with it felt like an old memory, something warm and well-loved. She raised it and slashed at the bug-thing, only just missing it when it reared back up. It was clear how much damage the hit would have landed if it hit. 

It was hardly a surprise that she immediately detransformed.


End file.
